Second Sunday of the Great Fast: St. Gregory of Palamas; our Venerable Father and Confessor Basil, Ascetical Companion of Procopius (716-40)
Great Fast Day 14
Hebrews 1:10-2:3; Mark 2:1-12
The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated today.
Read Hebrews 1:10-2:3
In our reading from Hebrews today we are reminded of how incredible the Lord is in His creation and His timelessness. As beautiful as the created order is, it’s nothing compared to how incredible the Lord is.
How do you picture the Lord, the Ancient of Days? Often people imagine the God who made the heavens and the earth as an old man with long white hair and a white beard. This is understandable as we are in time, and so, unlike God, we change from year to year. But today I’d like to challenge you to see our Lord not as an old and fragile man with a white beard, but as forever young, forever active, and strong. After all, every moment is “now” for Him, and the words “today,” “tomorrow” and “yesterday” really don’t have a meaning for Him. He is equally present and equally present to us (and everyone else!) at every moment. If you wonder how God could possibly hear and consider all of our “Lord have mercies” at the liturgy, just realize that He has an eternity to consider all of them!
GK Chesterton, the amazing Catholic apologist writes:
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” – Orthodoxy